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Huit pièces brèves, Op 84

Introduction

The Huit pièces brèves (1869–1902) are a collection of moods as fleeting as they are varied. The opening Capriccio is capricious indeed, and includes a harmonic twist at the end (bar 34) as nonchalant as it is acrobatic. In the two Fugues Fauré gravely doffs his hat to Academe, while the Adagietto denies all promise of lightness. The Allegresse (allegro giocoso), on the other hand, finds Fauré happily recalling the mood of La bonne chanson (1891/2) and the final Nocturne (repeated in the great series of thirteen) brings the set to a flowing and serene end.

Recordings

'… the best performances of this music I have heard. Her interpretations combine freedom and control in performances that range from the most tender ...'Take, for instance, the Fourth Nocturne—in Stott's hands a suave miracle of purling pearliness, fraught with delicate hesitations and suppressed sigh ...» More

A master pianist demonstrates his manifold talents in this delicious selection of French music. Works by Poulenc, Fauré, Debussy and Ravel rub shoulders with lesser-known gems by their contemporaries.» More

All his life Fauré loved to improvise, a skill honed during his years studying organ and church music at the École Niedermeyer. The Huit Pièces brèves collect together gems from over three decades. The Improvisation heard here dates from 1901 and was written as a cunningly demanding sight-reading test at the Paris Conservatoire. Cunning because in place of blatant complexities come two minutes of the most musical nuance, limpidity of sound and rhythmic subtlety: a true test of any budding pianist.